Improvement in m achine-guns



E. A. LELAND.

Machine-Gun.

Paterna@ Feb. 5,118.78. Y

.. Dlis a belt, preferably of sheet-'brass or other iexible metalfj This beltDisg-coiled uponfa v reel,'E, arranged irndernath the breechA, and

UNITED STAT L EDWIN A. LELAND, or lNEW YORK-fn. Y., Assrenon, BY MnsNE ASSIGN- MENTS', 'ro THOMAS' c. MILEsAN'D J\.B. K IDDoo, 0F sAMEgrLAeE.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. 1915,915, dated February, 1878 application filed A July 21, i815. v

To all whom't't 'ceacerm Be it known that v-I, EDWIN A..LELAND, of

l the city, county, 'and-State of New York, have invented Acertain-Impr'ovemen'ts in Mitrailleurs, of which the .followngis a-specication;

This invention is designed to provide amore rapid, simple, and effective means of supply- ,ing cartridges to' `tlielbarrels or dischargechambers of amitrailleur than has hitherto been available. i 3 1.- y To this end the invention consists in anovel combination of a beltprovided with a" system n of cartridge-holderswith the breech-loadingA mechanism oi` a mitiailleur; also, inthe combination of springgeartridge-holders provided i..npon-`- thebelt .withau.inclined-tomber- 'pcker for removing the cartridges from the` said l ofactuating-rolls'and gearing with the aforevv;sa1d cartridge-carrying belt and the arm to` which it is applied.

' 4The drawings represent my invention as applied to the well-known Gatling gun, Figure l being a transverse sectional view taken in the -.11ne y of Fig. 2; Fig.2,alongitudinal sectional view taken in the line w of Fig. 1, `and Fig. 3

a partial longitudinal sectional view in the "line z' of Fig. 1.M

Ais the breech of a Gatlin g gun, and B the barrels thereof, 'C being the casing containing-tha mechanism-whereby thecartridges are forced {ibrw-rd ironrthe receivers uv fthe breech A" Into the-chambers 'b 'ofjth ,pal-"ts and theiiiarrangement iidoperationLare.

well known, Yrid` deta iled dv ptiQn oithemis supported in suitable bearingslin the carriageI of the arm, the axis of the reelf'bein'g parallel 'With'tla 0f the ei Fil: thfrelffthabeit., 1s carried upwar and over the breech' Se. be-l tweentwofrollers'yl Gy, the latter, @fof-which has a spur-pinion,"c, on the end of itsshafta",

arranged coincident with each other, at -such distance apart that a cartridge thrust lengthwise into the holder will be grasped by its two ends, as shown at c in Fig.,l, the position of the cartridges as thus attached to the -belt being transverse to the latter, andpparallelwith the receivers a of the breechi The rollers F G are of such length that, i1i the operation here- .in presently described oil the...apparatus, the

holders j' will, so to speak, pass astride ofthe inner roller G, which is thus prevented from interfering with the operation of the belt, the

'shaft a of the said vroller Gr being arranged below the path traversed by the`holders j'. I is an inclined beak, tooth, or picker iixedto a shell, J, arranged around the breech A, and projecting into the space traversed by the central part ofthe cartridge held in vthe holders f of the vlatter during the operation of the same.

r.In th'e use and operation of the invention,

the gun is worked by the crank K, and the f breech A andr barrels B are rotated, in the usualmanner, simultaneously with the usual operation of the breech-loadin g and breech-closing mechanism. The rotation of the breech,

however, through the racks d and spur-pinion e, gives an intermittent movement to the belt, slowly unwinding the same from the reel, and

bringing the cartridges,with which its holders -have been-previously supplied, successively in contact. with the picker l, arranged above the uppermostreceiver off the breech. This picker,

passing aboveeach. cartridge asl the latter imovestoward it, forces the same down and out from the holder in which it has been placed, and by which it was carried above the upper- ,most receiver laforesaid of the breech. When the cartridge has been thus placed in the breech it 4is forced forward to, the chamber of the adjacent barrel, closed in by the breech-closing devices, andredin the usual inanner,the

shellbeing'ejected also in the ordinaryr AVAILABLE @PY It will be seen, therefore, that by this means the cartridges may be very rapidly and eiectively fed to the gun, and that when one maga-` zine or belt is exhausted it may be readily replaced by another ready charged, so that the least possible interruption is experienced i-n thecontinuousworking'of thearm. Moreover, the feeding mechanism being arranged low down andl 'out of the way, danger of injury thereto, either in the eld or during transpor tation, &c., is materially reduced, as compared with that incident to the Gatling gun, as ordinarily constructedqvith a feeding device.

. It will loel understood that while my invention is especially applicable to the Gatling gun, it may be also applied with more or less advantage to other mitrailleurs or battery-guns of any suitable construction.

What I claim as my invention is- 1. The combination of a belt constructed with a system of cartridge-holders, the breechloading mechanism of amitrailleur, and mechanism for transferring the cartridges from thc belt tothe receiver of the breech, substantially as and for the purpose specied.

2. The spring cartridge-holders f, provided. upon the beltD, in combinationwith the picker I, arranged to force the cartridges from the 'said holders to the receivers a of the breech, 

